LANSING, Mich. — Sens. Rosemary Bayer (D-Beverly Hills), Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), and Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), along with Reps. Kyra Bolden (D-Southfield) and Mari Manoogian (D-Birmingham) have issued the following statement after a ProPublica story reported a 15-year-old Beverly Hills student was incarcerated in a juvenile detention center for not completing her online coursework during the COVID-19 pandemic:
“This judge’s decision to remove a child from her home and incarcerate her for falling behind on online school activities — especially given the current public health crisis — is unconscionable and shows the ongoing implicit bias within our state’s criminal justice system. This 15-year-old should be released and reunited with her mother immediately.
“These decisions made by judges and prosecutors have a lifetime impact on individuals; they are supposed to be made impartially, dispassionately, and without regard to age, sex, race, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation. As such, we call on the State Court Administrative Office to require judges to participate in implicit bias training before they assume the bench.”
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